Book One: Water: The Southern Air Temple
by thatlittlebluehouse
Summary: Book One: Water: The Southern Air Temple
1. 3-1 Katara

A hundred years had passed, and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar. Althouth his Airbending skills are great, he has a lot to learn before he's ready to save anyone. But I believe Aang can save the world!

One of our first stops on the list of places to rest and see on our journey to the North Pole was Aang's home. The Southern Air Temple. We'd been flying for a long time the air was still cold but it seemed to be thickening. Sokka and I had taken our outter coats off a few times on the journey. Something we did rarely wear we came from. Looking down from my saddle perch on Appa's back I saw the world as I had never seen it before. The clouds were close enough to touch, the water was a thousand shades of blue and black and green. The sun was warmer than I'd ever felt before and the green of leaves which I'd never seen except in books speckled the islands below.

Appa had settled on a beach for the night. The next morning we began to load our things and break down our camp. Sokka was still asleep.

"I can't wait til you see it, Katara. This Air Temple is one of the most beautiful places in the world!" Aang flitted around Appa, grabbing things and making sure he was comfortable.

"Aang, I know you're excited, but it's been a hundred years since you've been home." I told him slowly, not wanting to come right out saying that the entire nation and culture of Airbenders had been slaughtered to extinction by the Fire Nation long ago.

"I know Katara! That's why I am so excited." he didn't seem phased.

"It's just that a lot can change in all that time." my voice was so soft when I spoke these words.

"I know," he assured me. "I just need to see it for myself." I still wasn't confident about his understanding of the situation we were about to walk into.

Finally we were packed except for Sokka and his sleeping bag.

"Wake up, Sokka! Air Temple, here we come!" Aang called excitedly to a snoring lump of Sokka stuffed inside a fur lined sleeping bag.

He made a familiar face. Sokka crinkled his noes and squeezed his eyes shut as tight as he could. He made a groaning noise before rolling away from the direction he had heard Aangs voice coming from. "Sleep now. Temple later." was the most we understood from the grunts and mumbles he offered us.

Without a moments hesitation, Aang found a stick nearby on the ground. He very lightly ran one end of the stick along the foot of Sokka's sleeping bag.

"Sokka! Wake up! There's a prickle snake in your sleeping bag!" I was already laughing at the whole thing even before Sokka jumped up still wrapped in his fur sack and began hopping and screaming to get it off. Sokka fell face first into the sand of the Earth Kimgdom beach just south of the mountainous island range where the Air Nomads made the home of their southern most temple. "Great!" Aang said playfully with a touch of sarcasm, "You're awake. Let's go!"


	2. 3-2 Zuko

We docked in a harbor of several other Fire Nation ships. Our vessel may have been the dingy next to these monsters. Naval ships demanding crews of no less than a few hundred each. I hesitated to dock with so many Fire Nation nationals, but what choice did I have. It took every man aboard to free us from the ice and snow the Avatar toppled upon us. The damages needed to be repaired. The ship barely made it with thew simple patches we fashioned just to get this far.

My uncle and I cautiously walked down the ramp to the dock.

"Uncle." I turned to the old man walking beside me. "I want the repairs made as quickly as possible. I don't want to stay too long and risk loosing his trail." I looked around warily, not sure what to expect of the soldiers here.

"You mean the Avatar?" Uncle asked. I whipped around to glare at him.

"Don't say his name on these docks!" I hissed at him. "Once word get out that he's alive, every Firebender will be out looking for him, and I don't want anyone getting in the way."

"Getting in the way of what, Prince Zuko?" My ears pulled back on my skull hard when I recognized the voice. Uncle's did the same. We turned to see the tall middle aged man. His hair was pulled back tight in a small loop and he had a think beard growing on either side of his face, leaving his chin bare. He stood tall and straight, even as he walked toward us. His uniform was freshly pressed, and had many achievement medals hanging on the left breast and shoulder.

"Captain Zhao." I greeted him, not exactly with respect.

"It's commander now." he said giving me a suspicious look. He turned to my uncle and tilted his head in a bow. "And General Iroh. Great hero of our nation."

"Retired General." my uncle corrected him, bowing his head in a show of respect.

"The Fire Lord's brother and son are welcome guests anytime." the commander assured us. "What brings you to my harbor?"

My uncle turned to motion to the ship looking rather pathetic behind us.

"Our ship is being repaired."

"That's quite a bit of damage." he replied seeing the dents, holes, and melted iron all across the front of the ship.

"Yes!" I offered, a little too fast and a little too high pitched. "You won't believe what happened." I paused realizing I had nothing to offer as a believable story. "Uncle, tell Commander Zhao what happened." I panicked, thinking that surely my uncle could get us out of this. The great hero of our nation that he was. I was a terrible liar.

"Oh, uh, yes. I will do that. It was incredible!" he began to my relief. "What did we crash or something?" he asked turning to me. My stomach dropped.

"Yes!" I cried. "Right into a... Earth Kingdom Ship." I had known the moment my mouth opened that my quavering voice would give me away. By then it was too late. We had to stick with it.

"Really?" Commander Zhao asked, humoring himself. "You must regale me with all the thrilling details. Join me for a drink?" I knew he wasn't asking me.

"Sorry," I told him, "but we have to go." I turned on my heels but my shoulder pulled back when my uncle placed his hand on it. He leaned in close to make the conversation more private, although, Zhao undoubtedly heard the plea.

"Prince Zuko, show Commander Zhao your respect." He let me go and turned back to the snake of a man we called commander. "We would be honored to join you. Do you have any ginseng tea? It's my favorite." He and the commander walked away. I followed behind at a distance. retaining the heat in my palms begging to be released.


	3. 3-3 Katara

_Ggrrumppbule. _Sokka clutched his stomach and sighed deeply. I could hear the rumbling from all the way on top of Appa's head where I was sitting with Aang. I turned my head to see what he was doing. He had been making some ruckus in the back. He was digging through all the bags and packs, talking to himself. That wasn't unusual for him, but it still made me wonder how we were related sometimes.

"Stomach, be quiet, alright? I'm trying to find us some food." Sokka dug out a tan sack with a draw sting closure. He turned it up and tried to empty the contents into his hand. Crumbs. "Hey!" Sokka said looking up at us, "Who ate all my blubbered seal jerky?" Mmm, I love blubbered seal jerky, but I knew I hadn't eaten it and Aang had already told us that he was a vegetarian. He didn't eat meat, and I must say his reasoning was commendable. I had promised myself to be more conscious about what I was eating, but I was a long way from being a vegetarian. Our sheet of ice didn't produce vegetation in the south pole, so our diets were mostly made up of meats and creams. When the our tribe and the surrounding tribes had been thriving, we would sometimes get shipments of fruits, vegetables, and breads. Some of the fishing nets we set brought up sea kelps, but those weren't really my favorite.

Aang made a face that told me he had at least had something to do with the missing meat, even if he hadn't eaten it.

"Oh," he said to Sokka. "That was food? I used it last night to start our fire. Sorry."

"You what?" Sokka exclaimed. "Guess that's why the flames smelled so good." he finished in a longing, sarcastic voice.

In the distance, the mountains of the Southern Air Islands were nearing us.

"The Patola Mountains! We're almost there!" Aang's voice rang out with such excitment. I felt a pit forming in my stomach. What if we get there and the place is destroyed by the war efforts the Fire Nation made. What if they did something terrible with the bodies and their bones were left in the same place that Aang's people had died. What if some of the Fire Nation stayed there to set up camp, or booby trapped the place as they had left their war ship that had gone on. These were the thoughts that flew around my head as we got closer. Maybe none of that happened, maybe we would find a small hidden group of secret Airbenders who escaped the torment of the Fire Nation.

"Aang, before we get to the temple, I want to talk to you about the Airbenders." We had only spoken briefly and indirectly bout these possibilities.

"What about them?" he asked.

"Well, I just want you to be prepared for what we might find." I told him. I tried to meet his eyes, but he wouldn't look directly at me. "The Fire Nation is ruthless. They killed my mother, and they could have done the same to your people."

"Just because no one has seen an Airbender, doesn't mean the Fire Nation Killed them all." Aang spoke with the confidence of child. Strange for me to have felt that way being hardly more than a year older than him, but my brother's and my life brought us up to be a little less confident in the good things.

When the Fire Nation came for our tribe, they killed my mother, and dozens of others. They took my father from us by forcing his hand to lead the remaining people we had to fight in the war against them. We haven't seen either of our parents since I was eight years old, and we would never see one of them again. I frequently thought that the same might be true of our father, but I always managed somehow to push it to the bak of my thoughts.

"They probably escaped." he went on to tell me.

"I know it' hard to except..." I started.

"You don't understand, Katara. The only way to get to an Airbender Temple is on a flying bison." Aang patted Appa's head affectionately. "And I doubt the Fire Nation has any flying bison. Right, Appa?" Appa grunted in what I had assumed to be approval. The thick clouds were begining to thin and suddenly appeared a wall of rock that was the side of one of the mountains. Appa had clearly navigated this terrain, or lack there of, before. Without warning we started heading directly upwards instead of forward. Aang held the reigns, but Sokka and I grabbed whatever we could. The air was thin and cold that high up. I was colder than I had been in days.

We made it to the top of the steep incline without falling off to our deaths. There were lush trees with dark green leaves and fruits that floated upwards instead of dropping on the peak. And just over the peak, a beautiful stone city was carved right into the peak of the next mountain over. Winding paths lead to turrets topped with Amazing blue roofs.

"There it is. The Southern Air Temple." Aang sounded so glad to see his home.

"Aang, it's amazing!" Amazing wasn't the word. Amazing fall short of how I really felt about it. This was unlike anything I had ever seen before, and I had no words to describe it.

"We're home, buddy. We're home." Aang and Appa both let out a sigh of contentedness.


	4. 3-4 Zhao

"...And by years end, the Earth Kingdom capitol will be under our rule. The Fire Lord will finally claim victory over this war." I finished explaining to the outcast prince the brief version of our plans in my personal tent. We had been stationed in this desolate Earth Kingdom bay for far too long, but at least I got some sense of home in my quarters.

The moment I saw the disbanded ship floating into a docking space, I knew what I was up for. Zuko had lied to me with the first words out of his filthy mouth, and his uncle, a poor excuse for a war hero, tagging along hanging on Zuko's whims. I invited them back for more than tea in the tent. I left the map hanging behind the long ornate table we'd seized from the Governor of this town of where ever the hell we were.

"If my father believes that the rest of the world will follow him willingly, then he is a fool." the prince told me. Such insolence.

"Two years at sea has done little to temper your tongue, Prince Zuko." I sat beside he at the table and poured myself some tea. Ginseng. It wasn't my favorite, but I was trying to be hospitable. I took a small sip and set the cup down without picking it up again. "So, how is your search for the Avatar going?" I asked him sneeringly. I knew he knew I knew, yet I played along. I needed answers after all. The old man knocked down a display of antique spears to our right. The trembling nerves of liars and cowards frequently find themselves in clumsy situations when confronted. The fool apologized profusely for the mishap, assuring us that it was entirely his fault. As if we weren't sitting right there when it happened.

"We haven't him yet." Zuko told me.

"Well," I said, "Did you really expect to? The Avatar has been dead for a hundred years." Zuko never was good at lying, even as a child. He wore all his emotions on his face, right next to the disfiguring scar that left his left eye and ear burned two years ago before. "Unless you've found some evidence that the Avatar is alive." I provoked.

"No." he insisted. "Nothing."

"Prince Zuko. The Avatar is the only one who can stop the Fire Nation from winning this war." I'd had it with the game. In moments I would know the truth, whether it be by the traitorous child before me or by other means I'd had arranged. "If you have an ounce of loyalty left, you will tell me what you've found."

"I haven't found anything! It's like you said. The Avatar probably died a long time ago." Zuko stood stiffly from the chair he had been setting in. "Come on, Uncle. We're going."

Ahh, but he didn't go. He and his uncle were enemies of the state. They did not go because they were blocked by the guards at the door. They were more loyal to the Fire Nation than those two royal outcasts.

Only moments later, the flap of my tent open revealing my head of intelligence. He had come to personally share with me that he had done my bidding.

"Commander Zhao, we have interrogated the whole crew, per your instructions." he assured me. That meant they needed to use methods other than questioning on at least one of the men. "They have confirmed that Prince Zuko had the Avatar in custody, but let him escape."

"Now, Zuko. Remind me. How, exactly, did your ship get damaged?"


	5. 3-5 Sokka

The mountain was an ancient marvel of nature and the wind powered constructions and carvings of the Air Nomads that used to thrive here. Winter had not left yet and there was still quite a bit of snow left in melting piles. The tree were barren of leaves and the place had a general feeling of being unkempt for the last hundred years or so. I saw a huge flattened surface on a low peak with a stone bride connecting it to the main summit. The space looked like a pen for the air bison and that seemed to be exactly where Appa was headed.

We finally landed after what seemed like forever, even though Katara told me it was only a few days since we left the South Pole. At that point I was starving. My stomach was tied up in knots and if it made any louder of a sound, the melting snow on this mountain might fall on us in an avalanche. tried not to be too mad about Aang using up all our food for fire. It was easier said than done. In front of us then laid a long, winding path sloping up the whole way. at points it was wide enough for three people, but in some places it was treacherously narrow. Aang ran ahead on the path looking in every direction to take it all in. He was still blissfully ignorant to the fact that he would be the only Airbender there that day. I know Katara tried to tell him, but he just wasn't excepting it.

"So where do I get something to eat?" I grumbled to no one in particular, although Katara was the only one with in earshot. As usual, she rolled her eyes at me and shakes her head disapprovingly.

"You are lucky enough to be one of the first outsiders to ever visit an Airbender temple, and all you can think about is food?" she raised her eyebrow at me, still shaking her head.

"Look," I pleaded. "I'm just a simple guy with simple needs." We continued walking for a short distance when we saw that Aang had stopped at a sharp turn in the path. He was standing still but his robes were wild with the touch of wind blowing all around him. He was looking out over the scenery. I could see in Katara's face that she had an underlying hesitation to see what he was seeing. I felt the same way. Worried that he had stumbled upon the broken ruins of battles fought and lost. We both hastened our pace to get to him.

To our great relief, he turned with a smile.

"So, that's where my friends and I would play air ball." he was pointing to court for a game. At either side there was a large wooded medallion decorated with carvings and painted what might have been a soft blue color a century ago. The whole field was raised up above the ground higher than my head. what seemed like hundreds of huge logs had been sunk into the ground at one end and the other end towered up perfectly straight. They were set at slightly different heights and craved and painted similarly to the two wooden plates at either end. From up on the path it looked like a small forest had all of the branches and leaves chopped off leaving just the trunks. "And over there," Aang continued pointing a little further ot and to the right, "is where the bison would sleep, and..." he let out a soft sigh. Katara stepped forward, but didn't make another move.

"What's wrong?" she asked. Aang didn't turn around. he shrugged his shoulders and held his hands out wide.

"This place used to be full of monks and lemurs and bison... Now there's just a bunch of weeds." He dropped his arms and his head a little and he was again standing very still. Katara and I looked at eachother. Sure Aang was an annoying kid like my sister, but who could stand to see anyone faced with the realization of the extinction of their people. What could we do? How could we fix this mess for him? "I can't believe how much things have changed."

"So, uh, this air ball game. How do you play?" I thought I could take his mind off the depressing emptiness of his home, but what I really did was set myself up for several losses of a game I had no chance of winning anyways. I am not a bender of any of the elements, and the game was made by and for Airbenders. I was feeling pretty sore after I climbed up the poles for the sixth time; six because I kept falling off, or getting knocked off by the gusts of air pushing the grass woven ball. I made it back to the top and Aang had the ball in his hands, again. He twirled the ball in his hands and moved it around his shoulders by bending the air inside the grass and threw it up so high I had to lean my head back. When it finally came back down he spun and kicked a huge swell of air which came hurdling at me with ball leading the way. The ball seemed to navigate itself through the poles, bumping into them and re-charting it's course, and ending square in my chest knocking me backwards through the wooden medallion which spun on a single spindle right in the center. I fell in the snow bank where Katara was walking around. All I could hear was a pounding in my head and Aang giggling.

"Aang seven, Sokka zero!" I lifted my head enough to see his victory dance.

"Making him feel better is putting me in a world of hurt." Katara didn't seem too worried about me. Then right in front of me I saw a flash of red. I crawled forward a little to see an ancient looking rusted helmet. A Fire Nation helmet. Red and silver metal with sharp pointed spikes. "Katara," I whispered, urging her to come forward. "Check this out." Her lips curled in anger.

"Fire Nation." she breathed.

"We should tell him." I told her.

"Aang!" she called, "There's something you should see." She turned to face the direction she was calling to just as he bounded down off the court and started towards us. Her whole face dropped when she saw him. She turned quickly back to me and with her eye shut lifted her hands above her head and pulled them hard back down. The snow bank tumbled over the helmet hiding it, and covering me as well. Ugh, why is it that every time she uses her magic I get soaked? She turned back to face Aang again and he was near enough to talk to now.

"What is it?" Aang asked, skidding to a stop right in front of Katara. He looked at the fallen snow and at me struggling to shake the heavy wet frost off my head.

"Uh, just a new Waterbending move I learned." Katara stammered, gesturing towards the pile on top of me.

"Oh," Aang said. "Nice one. But enough practicing for now, we have a whole temple to see!" he turned on his heels and started up the trailthat lead back to wear the main path, grass ball tucked under his arm.

Eventually I dug myself out of the snow and stood up, still brushing myself off. I waited a moment for Aang to be far enough away to not hear me speaking to Katara.

"You know you can't protect him forever." At that she slumped her head and shoulders and started to walk in front of me.


	6. 3-6 Katara

We walked up the slopping trail in silence. My brother was right, or course. I couldn't protect Aang forever. Eventually he'd face the facts that I tried to tell him about earlier in our trip. But now that we had arrived and he he was so excited to share this wit us, how could I force that on him? We made it to the very top and infront of us was a huge arch of stone and the main temple before us.

"Katara. Firebenders were here. You can't pretend they weren't." Sokka was blocking me from going under the arch, arms crossed. I just moved past him and kept on walking.

"I can for Aang sake. If he finds out that the Fire Nation Invaded his home... He'll be devastated." I thought I had tried to tell him earlier, but the more I saw the more I knew there was nothing that could have prepared us, or him for the state of things at the temple. Aang was bouncing and flitting around in front of us and completely oblivious to us talking.

"Hey guys! I want you to meet somebody." Aang stood next to a life sized stone statue of an old monk. The monk was bald and dressed in robes. He had a long beard and the exposed parts of the statues hands and head had arrows carved into them, just like Aang's tattoos. The monk had a huge beaded necklace to with the symbol of the Air Nomads on the large center bead.

"Who's that?" Sokka asked, happy I'm sure to break away from our conversation.

"It's Monk Gyatso. The greatest Airbender in the world. He taught me everything I know." Aang turned fro the statue with a wide smile on his face, then turned back and bowed in a symbol of respect to his old teacher.


	7. 3-7 Aang

The moment I saw the statue I thought of one of the last times I spoke with my old friend and teacher.

"But the true secret," Monk Gyatso had said, "is in the gooey center." He had just pulled that last of four cakes from the oven and puffed the fruit filling with air. We used to make cakes a lot. I wasn't paying close attention though. I was consumed with deep thoughts of the news I had gotten earlier that same day.

"Hmm." I said blankly in acknowledgement. I turned on the walls staring blankly at my home. At the bison in the trees and the other monks and kids playing in the courtyard.

"My ancient cake making technique isn't the only thing on your mind, is it Aang?" he asked me softly.

"This whole avatar thing. Maybe the monks made a mistake?" I was hopeful that he would agree with me. I had been filled with such anxiety since they told me that morning. I was the reincarnation of the Avatar. My soul was one with his. With hers. With it. The Avatar Spirit was older than anything I could think of. It was the duty of the Avatar to bring peace and unity to the whole world. I was just a kid how was I supposed to do that?

"The only mistake they made was telling you before you turned sixteen." Gyatso told me. Sixteen. only four years. Like that would have made a difference. I guess they couldn't keep it from me after that. I'd be an adult by then and I'd have to start to learn the ways of the other three elements. "But Aang, we cannot concern ourselves with what was. We must act now on what is." he gestured to the beautiful gardens we had the pleasure to live in and the bison flying from tree to tree munching on the leaves. The monks and children like me who were playing and learning and meditating in the very courtyard where I was now standing with my new friends Katara and Sokka.

"But Gyatso," I asked,"how will I know that I am ready for this?"

"Aang. Your questions will be answered when you are old enough to enter the Air Sanctuary. You will meet someone there who will guide you." he was standing at the wall too checking each of his fruit cakes.

"Really? Who is it?" I asked excitedly. Maybe this person would help me through this. Monk Gyatso did not hesitate to answer me.

"When you are ready," he told me, "he will reveal himself to you." Ugh, I sighed at this and the thought that there was only more waiting in my near future. Gyatso tried to cover his small smile. Grown up always do that. laugh knowingly at you when you get told you're too you for things. "Now," he said turning to face me, hands on his hips. "are you going to help me with these cakes or not?" That got my spirits up. These cakes, although they smelled really good, were not for eating.

"Alright." Monk Gyatso and I readied our stance. We each inhaled deeply and like the wind we moved smoothly through the steps. Creating a churning ball of air. We stepped forward and pushed the balls into the cakes. They went flying off the edge and our aim was perfect. Each of the four different fruit cakes landed square on the heads of four monks meditating under the lemur trees. Without hesitation the lemurs were on them! Jumping and chirping and scooping the fluffy air fruits off the faces of the monks. Gyatso and I were laughing so hard it hurt. The fruity monks were laughing too. Just some good clean, well maybe not so clean, fun.

"Your aim has improved greatly my pupil!" Gyatso patted my head and shoulder like he always had whenever I did something good, and I bowed slightly to him in a show of respect.

When I lifted my head back up I was back with Katara and Sokka in the courtyard I had just been looking down on in my memory with Monk Gyatso. Suddenly a hand was at my shoulder.

"You must miss him." Katara whispered softly to me.

"Yea." I agreed to myself. I started up the stairs behind the statue of my old mentor.

"Where are you going?" Katara asked when I had made it to the top of the stairs.

"To the Air Sanctuary. There's someone I'm ready to meet." After a short pause I heard two sets on foot steps following behind me.


	8. 3-8 Katara

Aang was gone into the dark entrance of the temple behind the statue of Monk Gyatso. I turned back to see Sokka, and make sure he was still with us and not running off to eat the first moving thing he could get his hands on. He shrugged at me, as if to say 'I don't know what he means' and we both start up the stairs to follow Aang.

The walk wasn't too long down the huge tunnel carved into the mountain and it wasn't as dark as the entrance made it seem. The sunlight streamed in through windows and skylights along one side. The hall was once a beautifully painted and cared for place, but while we walked through it the hall was dusty and overgrown through some of the windows by trees. An Air Nomad symbol was decorating the floor in front of a massive ornate door with an intricate locking mechanism and what looked like horns. At the foot of the door to the left was a tree that had grown into the stone and wrapped around the door, nearly reaching to the floor on the right side. it looked as hard as stone itself an grew no leaves.

Aang slowed as he neared the door.

"But Aang," I said warily, breaking the silence, "No one could have survived in there for a hundred years."

"It's not impossible." he told me in a more upbeat voice than I was expecting. "I survived in the iceberg for that long."

Hmm. I hadn't thought of it like that.

"Good point."

"Katara! Whoever's in there might help me figure of this avatar thing." Aang said excitedly.

"Oh!" Sokka piped up from the back. "Whoever's in there might have a medley of delicious, cured meats!" _Okay, maybe he does have midnight sun madness. How can he only think of food at a time like this? _I thought to myself. Sokka's eye were wide with anticipation and hunger. He walked, rather quickly, right up to the door and hit it with his shoulder. Pushing with all of his might. No use though. He turned and placed his back against the door, trying again. He must have regained his senses for a brief moment when he looked up and saw us staring at him. "Uh... I don't suposse you have a key?" he asked.

"The key Sokka is Airbending." Aang seemed awfully proud of his skills then.

Sokka backed away from the door as Aang positioned himself in a stance that let him work the Airbending move he was about to pull off. He took a deep breath of air, really deep. He lifted his arms and with a stong step foward thrust them out in front of himself pointing each hand at either of the two mouths of what looked like horns. The door started to shake and the brassy horns began to sing a deep, singular note. The notches and levers flipped and allowed for passage of the air to the next stage of the lock. Slowly but surely the puzzle came together and the doors opened before us revealing another large dark entrance.

"Hello?" Aang called out as he fearlessly strode into the darkness. "Any one home? Sokka and I followed before Aang went oo far in and we lost sight of him."


	9. 3-9 Zuko

3-9 Zuko

"So, a twelve year old boy bested you and your Firebenders. You're more pathetic than I thought." Zhao paced from one side of the tent to the other, passing in front of me without looking in my direction.

"I underestimated him once, but it will not happen again." I spoke to the commander quickly, attempting to control the hot rage growing inside. My fists were clenched and it was all I could do to remain seated.

"No it will not, because you will not have a second chance." He said as though it were a matter of fact. Throwing my hand up my voice rose too.

"Commander Zhao!" I began, trying to keep my voice level but firm. "I have been hunting the Avatar for two years and I…" Then he whirled on me with a hot flame arcing from his hands.

"And you failed!" he retorted, stepping towards me. "Capturing the Avatar is too important to leave in a teenagers hands. He's mine now."

At this I flew from my chair fully intending to start a fight. When he'd turned to me and started in my direction, he stopped just far enough away that I would have needed two steps to get to him. As it happened, the armed guards at either side of me caught hold of my arms and held me back.

"Keep them here." He said to no one in particular, as he whirled again as though my possible attack hadn't phased him. My breath was coming hard and I struggled against the men briefly before kicking out at the low tea table to my right with a roar. It flipped over and broke into several pieces, leaving shards of wood and pottery in a steaming puddle of tea. My infuriating uncle assessed the damage and asked for more tea.


End file.
